On October 12th, 2019 in Fort Worth Texas, a concerned neighbor called the police to report a possible break-in across the road, at a house with its door and gates left open on a cold day and belongings strewn about in disarray. Police responded to it as an 'open structure' call, and followed the precinct's policy of investigating possible burglaries by trying not to alert anyone inside the home in order to avoid hostage situations. Officer Aaron Dean and his partner checked the door and then walked around back to find possible exits, and upon rounding a corner into the back yard through an already open gate, shined a flashlight into a window and saw 28 year old Atatiana Jefferson pointing a pistol right at him. He immediately shouted "put your hands up, show me your hands" and fired a single shot all in the span of a couple seconds, killing her. In the minutes that followed as they secured the scene and rendered aid, they found that there was no burglar, and Jefferson had presumably been defending her home from the unknown prowlers outside.
As per the testimony in the trial so far from use of force experts, there's no accusation that officer Dean was trespassing, and its clear he was following the police training for such a call. The only direct witness to the shooting, Jefferson's 8 year old nephew, gave a statement just after the shooting in which he said he saw her pointing the gun at him and had a clear enough view he was able to identify that the shooter was the male officer and the female officer behind him was not. Months later, after Jefferson's family filed a $10 million civil lawsuit against the Fort Worth police, the nephew recanted his testimony under oath and now says Atatiana was holding her gun at her side. The prosecution did not call any use of force experts during their entire arguments to argue against the defense witnesses that affirmed Aaron Dean was following police procedures, but then called a rebuttal witness who claimed Dean could have disregarded the procedures to call for backup instead of investigating the structure himself. The bodycam footage shown to jurors does not make clear what Dean saw, as its from a lower angle than his vision and through a window with a glare. The layout of the yard also makes it clear his exits were blocked to either side while looking in the window, due to an air conditioner and wall.
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Dean said he didn’t think the owners were home when he walked around the house and used his flashlight to push open a gate to the backyard. He noticed the window and said he leaned over to see if it was jimmied or pried open. The window was not damaged. He told jurors he did not have his gun drawn when he walked through the gate.
“As I looked through that window, low in the window, I observed a person — couldn’t tell Black, white, male, female,” he said. “The upper arms were moving like someone was reaching for something or grasping.”
He then told jurors: “I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back, straightened up and drew my weapon and then pointed it toward the figure.” Dean said he couldn’t see the person’s hands.
Dean’s lawyers said in opening statements last week Dean saw a green laser on Jefferson’s gun. Dean did not say in his testimony that he saw the green laser before he fired. His body-camera footage captures him exhale and announce he found Jefferson’s gun inside her bedroom. He told jurors the gun had a green laser attachment and, once inside the home, he realized “how close we came to dying.”
His voice quivered as he described firing the lethal shot.
Dean, while being questioned by the prosecution, said Jefferson was bent over and stood upright as he drew his gun. He said her gun was near her chest. But Smith said Dean couldn’t tell if her arms were extended or if the gun was in a raised position ready to fire.
Dean said he shouted, “Put up your hands, show me your hands, show me your hands.”
“And as I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I saw the silhouette, I was looking right down the barrel of a gun,” he said. “And when I saw that barrel of that gun pointed at me, I fired a single shot from my duty weapon.”
Dean said he heard Jefferson scream and fall.
“I knew I’d shot that person,” he said.
The trial will go to jury after closing statements today. Dean is charged with first degree murder, punishable by 99 years in prison.
The central question becomes whether a jury can accept that two people 'doing the right thing' and both acting reasonably could wind up in a situation in which they would both have equally valid claims to self defense when shooting at each other in the dark- that if Jefferson had shot Dean first, she would be justified under the same defense as Dean is claiming. The counterargument is that all cops are bastards